Chinese V2O5 flake supply is extremely tight. The suppliers decline to sell at low price, and as some of V2O5 flake producers have signed long-term supply contracts especially when the output is small, ferrovanadium and vanadium-nitrogen producers have few access to raw materials. V2O5 flake in Panzhihua is generally supplied to Pangang and there are few materials available for other buyers, Tranvic and Jianlong are supplying materials only for regular customers, Hongjing is seen small output and makes no delivery, and in northern area Jinzhou Guangda and Jinxin have suspended production and have some inventories of V2O5 flake, but are unwilling to sell.

The Chinese vanadium market may swing to a deficit this year, underpinned by revised standards for the tensile strength of rebar products and a ban on vanadium slag imports, sources told Metal Bulletin. The new standard proposes eliminating 335MPa-tensile strength rebar and replacing it with 600MPa-tensile strength rebar that will have greater earthquake resistance, which will mean producers will have to add greater quantities of vanadium to the production mix. The overall consumption of vanadium in crude steel varies widely across the world. It averages 37 grams per 1,000 tonnes (g/kt) in China, far less than the 73g/kt in Europe and 93g/kt in North America, Metal Bulletin has learned.

We see a situation where over the coming months Chinese exports of ferrovanadium could drop sharply on the back of increased domestic demand and raw material constraints. Chinese pricing has already moved sharply higher over 2018 to date, but we would see significant further upside to global pricing as the market adjusts to lower Chinese shipments. This is not important for the battery sector yet given it accounts for only a tiny proportion of overall vanadium demand, but should vanadium redox flow batteries become the method of choice for storing intermittent energy this could create further demand pressures over the coming years.

Current vanadium situation reminds me of silver in late 2003 when US treasury ran out of silver inventory and silver price went from $5/oz to $15/oz by early 2016. Same story can be said about uranium price, which went from $25 in 2006 when US stockpiles were depleted to $120/lb by mid 2017

There are few supplies available despite rising prices, it’s entirely conceivable in my view for vanadium price to challenge its 2005 high of over $25/lb, the last time incidentally that’s also when Chinese rebar standards were upgraded with higher vanadium intensity.

Investing in vanadium mining company can be a way to participate in the vanadium bull market. The majority of vanadium production comes from China, and there are no primary vanadium mines in North America today. The most advanced permitting stage vanadium project in North America is the Gibellini primary vanadium project, operated by Prophecy Development Corp. (OTCPK:PRPCF) (TSX: PCY, Frankfurt: 1P2N) of which I am the chairman. Gibellini is located in mining friendly state of Nevada, where the majority of gold production in the United States takes place.

In the last ten years, Gibellini received approximately $20 million in investment in drilling, engineering, feasibility, and permitting.

Prophecy received an independent technical report on the Gibellini project titled “Gibellini Vanadium Project Nevada, USA NI 43-101 Technical Report” with an effective date of November 10, 2017, (the “Report,” prepared by Amec Foster Wheeler E&C Services Inc., or AMEC). The Report disclosed an estimate for the Gibellini deposit of 49.62 million pounds of vanadium pentoxide in the measured category and 79.67 million pounds of vanadium pentoxide in the indicated category. As vanadium currently trades at over $12.8 a pound, the resource base translates to a lot of dollar value in the ground in a mining friendly jurisdiction.

(4) Rounding as required by reporting guidelines may result in apparent summation differences between tons, grade, and contained metal content. Tonnage and grade measurements are in U.S. units. Grades are reported in percentages.

Prophecy’s goals are to develop Gibellini into the first primary vanadium mine in the United States and to offer the best leverage and a direct investment vehicle – one that reflects vanadium prices.

Here I have made a valuation comparison of two preproduction-stage mining companies: Prophecy (vanadium), ecobalt solutions inc (TSX: ECS) (cobalt)

I chose Ecobalt because most vanadium is produced in China and there are no primary vanadium mines in North America to compare Gibellini with, and Cobalt is a key ingredient in lithium batteries, akin to vanadium is a key ingredient of vanadium batteries, a growing market uses vanadium. In another word, both cobalt and vanadium can be seen as electric metals related to energy storage space.

The resource information contained in this article was reviewed and approved by Christopher M. Kravits, CPG, LPG, who is a Qualified Person within the meaning of NI 43-101. Mr. Kravits is a consultant to Prophecy and is not independent of the Company in that most of his income is derived from the Company. Mr. Kravits serves as its Qualified Person and General Mining Manager.